Posted by BRIGGS:


I don't see Balkman having an impact next year. They should think hard about utilyzing the NBDL, atleast for 20 games or so, in order for Blakman to play 40 minutes and work on his shooting. The way he scored in the SL isnt going to be there in the BIG show. Let him go establish himself playing the game and enhancing some raw skills, while working with a PT to put on 10+ PDS.

Posted by joec32033:

Posted by BigC:

Regardless of want people say I have to wait and see Balkman during the season guard other sf's before I give him the defensive title. When he play's good defense against the Rashard Lewis's of the world or even the Richard Jefferson's of the world then I will give credit. Until then people are just repeating what the media is saying about the guy.

I agree to a point. Everyone who says guys are passing judgement need to understand that is not the case. They are evaluating him based on his college performances. He was a defensive player, offensively challenged in college.

Just as a comparison-I don't want to take this farther than just the comparison stage, it's like the whole LB argument where guys say that his history and past performances mean nothing. It does. It is an indicator of future probability of success. Same as Steph's 20 and 8. Everyone expects a certain performance from him, if he goes under that he underperforms.

Guys say Steph and Francis and Larry had a bad year last year, which is correct. But what is that based on? Past performance for all 3.

Francis averaged 14, 4 and 5 last season. That is a decent year, but it is a down year for him. Why? Because his career average (INCLUDING last year) is 19, 6 assists, 6 rebounds.http://www.nba.com/playerfile/steve_francis/

Stephon averaged 16, 3, and 6 assists. Tony parker averaged a aimiliar 18, 3 and 6. Parker had a great season, Steph underperformed. Why? Steph has career averages of 20, 3, and 8 assists, Parker doesn't.
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/stephon_marbury/index.html
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/tony_parker/

LB is a great coach. He has a .558 winning percentage in the regular season while taking on teams he has to rebuild. Last season he had a crappy season because his winning percentage was .280 and it didn't look like he rebuilt anything.


Sorry for the little tangent, but everyone will judge Balkman when he gets NBA minutes under his belt. But until then, he is what he is. He was a hustle player who didn't ring up stats in the SL (there are alot of undrafted FA's who can do that). His hustle plays are a mark of the games of guys that are undrafted.

Did he do horrible? No. His speed and first step impressed me. As did his fearlessness in going to the rim(although it was the exact same move from the exact same spot on the wing everytime, I digress).

As far as offensively, his dribble and passing are the things that I took noticed of. The fact that he has the ability to dribble left and right without losing control while taking it to the hole was impressive for a guy that was supposed to be weak in that area.

As far as Balkman defense, I have to wait and see because that was the area that I was not really impressed with. And this is suppose to be his main skilled area. I felt he was really weak in the preimeter defense area. Remember in today's NBA it is not like college, you are talking about guys like Rashard Lewis and A-47 with height coming down the court shooting 3's out of nowhere.

I don't want to make my final assessment until I see this guy play against real competition.



[Edited by - BigC on 07-17-2006 10:33 AM]

Posted by misterearl:

TMS - brevity is a blessing. You could have cut your post and presented a simple and elegant point.

Before

>>whether the pick was "wasted" or not, the bottomline is whether or not this kid can come in here & improve this team defensively & make an impact worthy of having been a #20 pick

After

Can Balkman improve this team defensively?

Posted by Bippity10:

I told you so's and I didn't tell you so's. All the while Balkman has never played an NBA game. Why not wait at least one quarter before everyone determines who was right or not?